Canker sores, cold sores, oral warts, fever blisters, acne, gingivitis and other oral ulcers and sores afflict nearly everyone at some point. Such ulcers and sores are caused by a variety of factors and are usually found on the loose tissue of a person's mouth such as the inner cheek, inner lip, tongue, soft palate, or mouth floor.
A number of different treatments can help reduce the pain of these ulcers and sores and speed their healing, including topical compounds, surgery, and laser therapy. Topical compounds such as topical anaesthetics, virucidal agents, nitrate solutions, and anti-inflammatory lotions provide relief to some patients, but their effectiveness is temporary because the compounds quickly wash away in the patients' mouths. Many topical compounds also taste bad and may temporarily discolor a patient's teeth. Surgical procedures are more permanent, but they lead to trauma of the surrounding tissue that is often more painful than the ulcers and sores themselves. Moreover, most patients consider surgery to be too expensive and time-consuming for a medical condition that usually goes away on its own after a few weeks.
Laser therapy is recognized as a safe and effective treatment for oral ulcers and sores. Laser therapy directs radiation of a particular wavelength onto an oral ulcer or sore and has been shown to reduce inflamation by increasing the amount of vaso-dilating and anti-inflammatory compounds in the treated tissue; stimulate increased levels of beta-endorphins that serve as natural analgesics to reduce pain; and speed tissue repair by greatly accelerating the production of ATP (adeno-triphosphate), the chemical energy of cells.
Laser treatment of oral ulcers and sores is typically provided with table-top lasers designed for dentists or surgeons. These devices are large, cumbersome, and expensive, and are thus impractical for everyday treatment of oral ulcers and sores. These devices also must be operated at powered-down levels to avoid unsafe exposure of laser light to the patient and provider.
Some have proposed the use of penlight lasers, laser pointers, and similar inexpensive devices for the treatment of oral sores and ulcers. Unfortunately, these devices often lack sufficient power to induce the above-described bio-stimulatory effects. Also, because of their inexpensive and simple designs, these devices also often operate at inconsistent power levels, do not emit effective and/or consistent wavelengths of laser, and provide no mechanisms to control or monitor the durations of treatment.